Ruth Roach Pierson

Maureen Hynes's Rough Skin (Wolsak & Wynn, 1994) won the League of Canadian Poets' Gerald Lampert Award for best first book of poetry in 1995. A past winner of the Petra Kenny Poetry Prize (London, England), she has work in Best Canadian Poems 2010, edited by Lorna Crozier. Maureen will be reading ... (more)from her just-published Marrow, Willow (Pedlar Press, 2011). Ruth Roach Pierson, after retiring from academe in 2001, published two books of poems with BuschekBooks of Ottawa: Where No Window Was (2002) and Aide-Memoire 2007). The latter was named a finalist for the 2008 Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry. Ruth will be reading from her most recent collection Contrary (Tightrope Books, 2011). Patria Rivera's first poetry collection, Puti/White (2005), was shortlisted for the Canadian Trillium Book Award for Poetry in 2006. Her poetry has been anthologized in the Oxford University Press series, Perspectives on Ideology. She is also a co-recipient of the 2007 Filipino Global Literary Award for Poetry. Patria will be reading from her newest collection Be (Signature Editions, 2011).

A fundraiser for the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts ADMISSION: $5 to $20 (sliding scale) Join local, published, first-time and established poets, reading five minutes each, non-stop for five hours. Featuring: George Elliott Clarke, Maureen Hynes, Ruth Roach Pierson, Karen Silverwoman, ... (more)Gein Wong, Nik Beat ...and many more! Inexpensive vegetarian-friendly meal available for purchase. This event is wheelchair accessible. All are welcome to attend. No one turned away for lack of funds. About Mayworks Festival Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts is a multi-disciplinary arts festival that celebrates working-class culture. Founded in 1986 by the Labour Arts Media Committee of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, Mayworks is Canada's largest and oldest labour arts festival. The Festival was built on the premise that workers and artists share a common struggle for decent wages, healthy working conditions and a living culture. Mayworks' goal is to promote the interests of cultural workers and trade unionists, and to bring working-class culture from the margins of cultural activity onto centre stage.